Corker: ‘The dam is finally breaking’
Senator urges Congress to pass tariff legislation
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Corker urged Congress again Tuesday to pass legislation to restrict President Donald Trump’s authority to impose tariffs in response to Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The dam is finally breaking. Thankfully,” Corker, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Twitter.
“As the president taxes Americans with tariffs, he pushes away our allies and further strengthens Putin,” Corker wrote. “It is time for Congress to step up and take back our authorities. We have legislation to do that. Let’s vote.”
Corker’s renewed push for the legislation follows a flurry of bipartisan criticism of Trump that resulted from the president’s joint news conference with Putin in Helsinki on Monday.
Trump angered Republicans and Democrats by accepting Putin’s denials that the Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Corker said Trump’s unwillingness to confront the Russian leader made the United States look like a “pushover.”
On trade policy, Corker has been pushing legislation that would allow the Senate to accept or reject tariffs when the president puts them in place as a matter of national security.
The legislation is in response to Trump’s recent decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on U.S. allies, a move analysts said pushed the United States closer to a trade war. Trump imposed the tariffs by arguing they are needed for national security.
Canada, Mexico and the European Union are now subject to a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. Brazil, Argentina and Australia agreed to limit steel exports to the U.S. to avoid tariffs.
At a hearing last week, Republican and Democratic senators expressed rising concern about the economic impact of tariffs, saying they are hearing complaints from dock workers, soybean farmers and manufacturers whose livelihoods depend on trade.